306
Anastasiya A. Guryeva (FAAS, SPbU, St. Petersburg)
Some Words
pro ‘
Green-deer group
’
:
a Traditional Way of Supporting the Country
The poems of the ‘Green-deer group’— a modern Korean poetry representative,
have been mostly associated with traditional lyric style, nature related themes and
therefore with the ‘pure literature’. With this regard, they have been mentioned as
opponents to the ‘engaged literature’movement that concentrated on social problems
calling for active reaction, and were even criticized for the passive position far from
problematic reality of the Japanese colonial period.
In the paper the works of the Group will be analyzed in a context of a traditional
model of approach to social problems with its relation to the ancient ritual tradi-
tion when the poet was put in a position supporting the order in the society and in
the Universe. This model formed a special attitude to poetry as an instrument of
influencing the world that is still important for contemporary Korean culture. The
features of the poems relating to this tradition will be especially commented (e. g. the
usage of traditional models depicting the harmony in the Universe). A comparison
with Walt Whitman’s poems creating a universal picture by wording details of it
will emphasize the ‘Korean’ specifics when the cosmic scale is expressed in two
words only.
The features characteristic for the literature of the period will be also traced
(e. g. actualization of the motif of wandering widely exploited in modern prose that
may be interpreted in several perspectives). Some examples of classical poetry tradi-
tion transformation will be commented. The name of the group will be examined as
well as central images of the poems. Textual analysis of the texts will illustrate the
key-point of the paper: the members of the group did not escape from the tragedy
the nation was facing but aimed at supporting the country through creating a poetic
world that was called to restore the order through the poetic word.
Секция XIV.
Литература стран Азии и Африки
Literatures of Asia and Africa
